This invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing foot supports such as insoles and the like with an anatomically configurated surface corresponding to the bottom of a user's foot.
Footwear articles, which are currently produced with mass production techniques, are designed to fit an average human foot, such that they can be conveniently utilized by a large number of users.
However, the shape of human feet differ between individuals, and for this reason adaptation plantar shanks are generally employed which are selected by trying their fit with the worn footwear.
The currently available shoe shanks of this type come in a very large variety of designs and in large number, their differences residing in their shapes, thickness, material, and the reference anatomy after which they have been modelled.
Accordingly, the problem of adaptability has been merely mitigated, or rather transferred to another product.
In recent times, so-called self-modelling shanks have been introduced (e.g. comprising a flexible bag filled with water), which on deforming under the body's weight, acquire the contours of the foot sole.
However, their functionality is rather poor, inasmuch as by utilizing the principle of displacing a material from the more heavily loaded areas toward the lightly loaded ones, they cannot always adapt themselves because their operation is only suitable for feet having an exactly determined free volume (plantar arc and space between toes and sole).